AMUSE-Field I: Nuclear X-Ray Properties of Local Field and Group Spheroids across the Stellar Mass Scale
dc.contributor.author | Miller, Brendan P. | en_US |
dc.contributor.author | Gallo, Elena | en_US |
dc.contributor.author | Treu, Tommaso | en_US |
dc.contributor.author | Woo, Jong-Hak | en_US |
dc.date.accessioned | 2013-06-28T15:25:33Z | |
dc.date.available | 2013-06-28T15:25:33Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2012 | en_US |
dc.identifier.citation | Miller, Brendan P.; Gallo, Elena; Treu, Tommaso; Woo, Jong-Hak (2012). "AMUSE-Field I: Nuclear X-Ray Properties of Local Field and Group Spheroids across the Stellar Mass Scale." The Astrophysical Journal 747(1): 57. <http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/98547> | en_US |
dc.identifier.uri | http://stacks.iop.org/0004-637X/747/i=1/a=57 | en_US |
dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/98547 | |
dc.description.abstract | We present the first results from AMUSE-Field, a Chandra survey designed to characterize the occurrence and intensity of low-level accretion onto supermassive black holes (SMBHs) at the center of local early-type field galaxies. This is accomplished by means of a Large Program targeting a distance-limited (<30 Mpc) sample of 103 early types spanning a wide range in stellar masses. We acquired new ACIS-S observations for 61 objects down to a limiting (0.3-10 keV) luminosity of 2.5 × 10 38 erg s –1 , and we include an additional 42 objects with archival (typically deeper) coverage. A nuclear X-ray source is detected in 52 out of the 103 galaxies. After accounting for potential contamination from low-mass X-ray binaries, we estimate that the fraction of accreting SMBHs within the sample is 45% ± 7%, which sets a firm lower limit on the occupation fraction within the field. The measured nuclear X-ray luminosities are invariably highly sub-Eddington, with L X / L Edd ratios between ~10 –4 and 10 –8 . As also found in a companion survey targeting Virgo early types, the active fraction increases with increasing host galaxy stellar mass, reflective of "Eddington incompleteness" within the lower-mass objects. For the Field sample, the average nuclear X-ray luminosity scales with the host stellar mass as M 0.71 ± 0.10 star , with an intrinsic scatter of 0.73 ± 0.09 dex. Qualitatively similar results hold for morphologically homogeneous (type E) or uniform sensitivity (new observations only) subsets. A majority of the AMUSE-Field galaxies (78%) inhabit groups, enabling us to investigate the influence of group richness on nuclear activity. We see no evidence for a positive correlation between nuclear X-ray luminosity, normalized to host properties, and galaxy density. Rather, while the scatter is substantial, it appears that the Eddington-scaled X-ray luminosity of group members may be slightly lower than for isolated galaxies, and that this trend continues to cluster early types. | en_US |
dc.publisher | IOP Publishing | en_US |
dc.title | AMUSE-Field I: Nuclear X-Ray Properties of Local Field and Group Spheroids across the Stellar Mass Scale | en_US |
dc.type | Article | en_US |
dc.subject.hlbsecondlevel | Physics | en_US |
dc.subject.hlbtoplevel | Science | en_US |
dc.description.peerreviewed | Peer Reviewed | en_US |
dc.description.bitstreamurl | http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/98547/1/0004-637X_747_1_57.pdf | |
dc.identifier.doi | 10.1088/0004-637X/747/1/57 | en_US |
dc.identifier.source | The Astrophysical Journal | en_US |
dc.owningcollname | Physics, Department of |
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